Sunday, 27 January 2013

Big Garden Birdwatch

Every year, just at the wrong time of year for going out in the cold and watching birds the RSPB conduct the Big Garden Birdwatch. It is like a bird census.My birds don't like to take part. We have such diverse birds as carrion crows, collared doves, woodpeckers and parakeets. None of them show up though. Even the pigeon clan was absent today.I did my hour in two stints. The first half hour was curtailed by rain and high winds. No birds. By the second half hour the sun had come out.

I think that 'up with the lark' and 'the early bird catches the worm' are foreign concepts to the arboreal contingent in our garden.I had a lot of fun watching the three squirrels, the fox made a cameo appearance and Cat5 was going to join in until he noticed me watching from the window.Casper quite enjoyed the second half hour sitting sniffing the breeze... it all got a bit much when he spotted Cat5 though.Very dissapointed in the low numbers this year. Starlings, blue-tits, great-tits, the robin pair, a sole pigeon, a crowd of wood pigeons, two magpies, a lone blackbird and the dunnock (who always turns up for Birdwatch).